In Delhi, we hired a driver , Ravi, to take us to Agra and then to Jaipur. There are a few things to be said about traveling the roads through India. The first is how many people can be squeezed into or onto a single tiny vehicle - wow! Second is the large numbers of animals we encountered, including cows, monkeys (wild and tame), sheep, and camels, to name a few. Third, no matter where we went, we continued to get a lot of attention, and not always in a good way (see the post on Jaipur for more details).

We arrived in Agra a little later than planned, around sunset. We had to rush to get to the Taj Mahal, because the following day it would be closed to the public for prayer. We arrived just as dusk fell, as you can see from the picture. Pretty, but I wish we had gotten there earlier for a better view. By the time our tour made its way into the Taj Mahal, it was really too dark to see much of anything (although I've been told there isn't much to see on the inside anyhow). After our tour, we visited an inlaid marble factory, where we could view the processes used to make the decorative marble on the facade of the Taj Mahal. And of course, Misty and I did a little shopping! I got some very pretty jewelry boxes made of inlaid marble and a fantastic Star of India and diamond ring. The day ended at our hotel with some hookah, a henna tattoo for Annie, and a pretty hilarious dinner!

Day two in Agra started with a quick trip back to the Taj Mahal, where we hoped to get a good view of the back side; unfortunately, it was too foggy to see much of anything. Nearby was the Agra Fort, which we only checked out from the outside. So we hopped back in our vehicle and headed to Fatehpur Sikri, a"ghost city" outside of Agra that had been abandoned because of a lack of water. The city is really very beautiful and impressive, and well worth a visit.

1 comments:

Monica said...

LOVE IT!! I so want to go to Agra someday..